Includes bibliographical references and index.

Prehistory to early civilizations -- Classical civilizations : Greece and Rome -- Early Christian, Byzantine, and Romanesque -- Islamic and Asian traditions -- The later Middle Ages -- The Renaissance of Italy -- Baroque and Rococo in Italy and northern Europe -- Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo in France and Spain -- Renaissance to Georgian in the low countries and England -- Colonial and Federal America -- The Regency, revivals, and Industrial Revolution -- The Victorian era -- The aesthetic movements -- Art Nouveau and the Vienna Secession -- Eclectcisim -- The emergence of modernism -- Art Deco and industrial design -- The spread of early modernism in Europe -- Modernism in America -- The ascendancy of modernism -- After the international style : the late twentieth century -- Design on a new playing field.